Troubled

Taiwan

By ARTHUR CLEGG

aeatidieg of riots in Taipeh

against the acquittal by an
American court-martial of an
American sergeant, all the 10
million inhabitants of Formosa
— Taiwan — have been under
martial law.

Chiang Kai-shek, the Ameri-
ean puppet ruler of the island,
has. officially claimed — that
there is no anti-American feel-
ing there, only unrest at the
decision of the court-martial,
which allowed the sergeant,
who had admittedly shot a
Chinese dead, to go free on
the plea of self-defense.

But the severity of Chiang’s
actions betray his own fear,
and that of his American ad-
visers, of the people he rules.

To stop the riots outside the
U.S. Embassy and other U.S.
offices in Taipeh last month,
33,000 of Chiang’s troops had
to be used as well as thous-
ands of police.

At least eight Chinese were
killed by,the fire of police
and troops. Over 70 were
arrested as “ring-leaders,” and
three police generals were dis-
missed for “mishandling” the

situation.

This is not the minor out-
burst that Chiang claimed it
to be when he sent his grovell-
ing apology to Washington. It
is an-indication that the days
of Chiang’s-rule and U.S. con-
trol in Formosa are numbered.

Seeing the danger signals
the U.S. government has an-
nounced it is considering with-
drawing some troops from the
island.

This is playing with the
problem. The only way to
solve it is to withdraw all
U.S. forces.

When in 1949 the Chinese
people drove Chiang out of
the mainland, he fled to For-
mosa, not because the Chinese
of Formosa liked him, but be-
cause, as it was an island di-
vided by 100 miles of water
from the
his American advisers thought
he had a good chance of hold-
ing it.

To the strategists of the Pen-
tagon, Formosa was an essen-
tial step both toward their de-
clared aim of converting the
Pacific into “an American
lake” and for dominating the
mainland of Asia.

Two thousand members of
the @.S. Military Advisory
Group today control Chiang’s
600,000 armed forces: One
thousand million dollars have
been given to Chiang since 1950
to enable him to bolster his
regime and to try to buy some
popularity for U.S. control.
American brasshats visit the
island every month to keep
an eye on developments.

3ut in less than eight years
all the advisers, and all the

mainland, he and,

visits, and all the dollars have
led only to riots on such a scale
that the whole island has to
be placed under martial law.

Ww

Chiang has never been popu-
lar in Formosa. When it was
handed back to China in 1945
his officials fleeced the island-
ers unmercifully. The- result
was that the Formosan Chin-
ese rose against his rule 10
years ago and were brutally
crushed.

For the past eight years,
however, the fleecing of the
islanders has proceeded on a
more intensive scale.

They are barred from all
major government positions.
Such posts are held by the
eronies Chiang brought with
him from the mainland.

The islanders, however, have
to provide the taxes for the
pay of these officials and for
the upkeep of Chiang’s aging
660,000 troops.

Chiang has followed the poli-
cy of selling the resources of
Formosa to American inter-
ests. This has further angered
the islanders, and also many
of Chiang’s followers.

Early this year, for example,
Chiang concluded a tanker
deal with the American In-
galls shipping interests, which
gave them both an interest in
Formosan gasoline and large

amounts of government funds.

Angry discussion about the
deal continued for weeks, even
in the hand-picked assembly
which Chiang has in Formosa.
The assembly is organized by
Chiang to take in more gul-
lible Americans with the “dem-
ocratic” nature of his regime,
but over this deal it got out
of hand for the. first time.

Ke

.Chiang’s regime in the is-
land is not without popular
support, it is also divided
against itself.

When he ruled China his re-
gime was. split into cliques,
operating against each other
and using rival secret police
organizations to spy on the
people and on each other. His
“sovernment” in Formosa ‘is
the same in miniature.

Two years ago when Chi-
ang’s ambitious son Chiang
Ching-kuo, was bidding for
more power, he secured the
dismissal of Chiang’s Ameri-
can-trained chief of staff Sun
Li-jen, on the alleged grounds
that he was sheltering Com-
munist officers on his staff.

The tables were somewhat
turned on Chiang Ching-kuo
six months later when an air
force officer, who was flying
in Ching-kuo’s private plane,
flew off to People’s China and

Continued from page 10

vo RTATUTE MILES OCD oe

handed it over to the Chi-
nese authorities.

Of the Chiang officials,
scarcely one trusts another
and almost all are out for the
maximum personal benefit.
The constant manoeuvring of
cliques for position, the spread-
ing of suspicion about rivals,
the constant spying are de-
stroying the regime from with-
in itself.

And those officials who are
sickened with this ~cynical
game, and with fawning on
Americans, have constantly be-
fore them the words of Chou
En-lai, the Chinese premier:

“On behalf of the. govern-
ment, I declare officially that
we are willing to discuss with
the authorities on Formosa
specific steps and conditions

for the peaceful liberation of
Formosa.” :

To many Americans, recent
events in Formosa have come
as a shock as they have’ had
it so constantly drummed into
them that Formosa is “the most
unshakable of America’s al-
lies.”

Only a few weeks ago U.S.
brass-hats were glibly an-
nouncing that U.S. guided mis-
siles, capable of being fitted
with nuclear warheads, would
now be stationed in this ‘se-
cure’s American base.

The riots may be a ‘shock
to Americans, but the rest of
the world awaits impatiently
the day when Formosa will
return to China, and yet an-
other of the major causes of
tension will be at an end.

Israel needs a policy of peace and friendship

beneficial trading terms, .the
Soviet Union is in the most
powerfu] position to develop
friendship and trade with
Israel and the Arab countries.

The Soviet Union is truly a
Middle East power, a fact to
which imperialism can no long-
er close its eyes. It has a com-
mon frontier with the Middle
East countries. It- has powerful
centres of oil, cotton and other
major industries in this area.

*

There are two roads open to
Israel:

One is to follow the policy
of Prime Minister Ben’ Gurion,
develop alliances with imper-
ialist countries, rely on force,
aim at conquest of territory
and follow friendly words with
hostile actions.

John Kimche, the editor of
the Jewish Observer and Mid-
dle East Review, which sup-
ports the Israel government,
writes of Ben-Gurion:

“At one stage the British
helped him — and then dis-
appointed him; then came the
Americans and they also failed
him; and now, together with

France, he sees the dream of
the South become a fact. But
the crisis is not yet settled. If
Israel can assert the power
of development in the South,
then she will have set the
example and made the path of
France in the Sahara that much
easier.”

It was Ben Gurion’s policy
which led to war. To tempor-
ary victory. To ultimate re-
treat. To isolation from the
countries which should be her
allies. To increased hatred be-
tween Israelis and the Arabs.
That is the way to disaster for
the long-suffering people of
Israel.

The other road open to Israel
is most clearly put by the Israel
Communist party, which in
spite of war and jingoism and
attacks of all kinds, has kept
its flag flying.

It embraces Jew and Arab in
its ranks. Its MPs are Jews and
Arabs. It stands for friendship
and equal rights between Jews
and Arabs, and for all people
of the Middle East to unite for
independence and peace.

Israel] has a right to exist

as a peaceful independent
state. That right only becomes
endangered when her rulers
lead her into adventures like
the Suez aggression. Within
Israel there are powerful
forces calling for ending Ben
Gurion’s policy; for Israel to
follow a policy of peace and
cooperation on mutually bene-
ficial terms with its neighbors.

The Arab national liberation
fight against the peneration of
imperialism has the support of
all opponents of imperialism
and supporters of national in-
dependence.

The Arab people have the
right to run their countries free
from outside interference, to
control the rich resources with-
in them to raise the terribly
low standard of life of the
Arab peoples, and to prevent
their countries being used as
bases for other powers.

A solution must be found to
the terrible refugee problem.
Nearly a million people are
refugees from the area now
occupied by Israel. They have
lost their land and possessions.
Without their rights being

recognised there can be no finai
peace in this region,

Israel’s future can only be
secure if it joins with others
who are demanding that the
rights of all nations be protect-
ed and that nations turn to
peaceful solutions of outstand-
ing problems.

That means that there must
be no imperialist interference
in the Middle East. It means
the ending of foreign ‘bases.
The halting of all arms ship-
ments. The withdrawal of ail
foreign troops. It means ait-
tending to the rights of the
refugees and the right of Israel]
to use the Suez Canal as part
of a general settlement.

In these conditions, freed
from imperialist interference,
the Middle East could flourish
and Isarel could flourish with-
in it.

That is the only way to
peace.

And the way to security for
Israel.

@ Solly Kaye, the author of
this article, is a Commun.-
ist councillor in the Lon-
don borough of: Stepney.

JUNE 14, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 12